Four Australian Aboriginal girls form a girl band in the 1960's and entertain the troops in Vietnam. Loosely based on a true story. Two sisters, Gail and Cynthia, travel from their family's farm in order to participate in a singing contest in a nearby town. Their younger sister Julia wants to go with them, but is forbidden to do so because she is too young.
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Julia sneaks a ride into town anyway and joins her sisters in time for the show, but despite clearly being more talented than the other acts, the all-white audience is hostile and the prize is given to a young blonde woman instead.
The piano player for the talent show is an Irish musician called Dave. He attempts to defend the girls and gets fired in the process. On his way out he gets into a conversation with them and one of them shows him a newspaper clipping that advertises jobs to entertain the troops in Vietnam. Dave agrees to be their manager, as long as they promise to switch from their current Country & Western songs. He calls the number and arranges an audition.
Dave and the sisters talk their parents into letting them go, and they head into the city to start rehearsing. But first they agree they need a fourth member, their light-skinned cousin Kay. Kay has lived away from the family for ten years, ever since she was taken under a government program that forcibly relocated lighter aboriginal children in an attempt to assimilate them into white society. Despite some tensions, she agrees to join them.
They ace the audition and travel to Vietnam. The troops love them and their act gets better even while their dynamic shifts. Gail acts as the group's matriarch even after Julie takes over as lead singer, Cynthia becomes increasingly reckless and rowdy, and Kay starts a romance with a black American soldier even while her background continues to cause friction with her cousins.
But things are going pretty well until their military escort tells them they are now on their own for the rest of the tour. Turns out that Dave drunkenly agreed to these terms and then forgot. Gail is furious with him but they have no choice but to go on.
Things come to a sudden halt when the camp they are performing in is attacked. The girls are evacuated, but during the melee Dave is shot and left behind. The girls get back to the city, uncertain as to their future, and arrive just in time to hear of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Best part of story, including ending:
It's a good story of the bond between sisters and family, with added depth by focusing on a culture and era you don't often see.
Best scene in story:
When Dave goes out to the family farm to ask permission to manage the girls, their father is very funny teasing him.
Opinion about the main character:
Gail is super bossy, which is actually quite entertaining but I can see how her sisters and cousin would get tired of it.
